America250 Facebook page photo
WASHINGTON — A White House-backed prayer rally on the National Mall drew thousands Sunday and reached into Kansas, where at least one Hays church promoted local participation and the Kansas Republican Party urged followers to tune in to the America 250 “Rededication to God.”
The event, titled “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” was held May 17 as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary observances. Freedom 250, the organizer, invited churches to “join with neighbors and friends from every state in the Union” for Scripture, testimony, prayer and “rededication of our country as One Nation to God.” The organization said the gathering was intended to give thanks for “God’s presence in our national life throughout 250 years of American history” and ask for guidance for the next 250 years.
In Kansas, Westview Church of Hays listed the event on its church calendar as “Rededicate 250 — A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving.” The church notice invited Kansans to “join with President Trump, your neighbors and friends from every state in the Union in giving thanks and praise to God for 250 years of His Providence for the United States,” and to pray that “God Bless and Protect America for the next 250 years.” The notice also said participants would “solemnly rededicate our country as One Nation under God.”
The Kansas Republican Party also promoted the event online. A party Facebook post, captured in search results Sunday, urged supporters to “Tune in this morning for the America 250 Rededication to God as we come together in prayer, humility, and gratitude for the blessings God has” given the nation. Another Kansas GOP post promoted the livestream as well.
The Kansas activity came as the state is also promoting its own broader Kansas 250 observance. Kansas Tourism’s Kansas 250 page says the state is hosting “various events, festivals, and celebrations around the state” ahead of the official semiquincentennial in 2026. Listed efforts include America’s Field Trip, the Kansas Outdoor Recreation Challenge, Route 66 Centennial activities and a statewide lineup of 250th anniversary events.
The National Mall rally was closely aligned with Republican and conservative Christian leaders. Religion News Service, published by Word&Way, reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, prayed from the stage: “Just as we in the beginning dedicated this land to your most holy name, today, here, Lord, in this 250th year of American independence, we hereby rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God.”
The same report said the program featured President Donald Trump by video, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and a long list of evangelical speakers, including Paula White-Cain, Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham. RNS described the crowd as “a sea of red, white and blue, dotted with banners of Jesus and MAGA hats.”
Franklin Graham, speaking by video, told the crowd that “America has become morally wrong, completely sick with sin,” adding that the nation has “an insatiable appetite for violence” and warning that it “will bring his judgment if we don’t repent as a nation,” according to RNS. Hegseth, also by video, urged Americans to pray as George Washington was said to have prayed, saying, “Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee.”
CNN, in a report carried by KMBC, said the event was “backed by the White House through a mix of taxpayer funds and private donations” and was “raising questions about the government blurring the separation of church and state.” Freedom 250 senior adviser Danielle Alvarez defended the rally, saying, “Rededicate250 will be a powerful moment to reflect on where we have been, recommit ourselves to the ideals that define us, and look toward the future with renewed hope and purpose.”
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told CNN the event would be a “beautiful and unifying moment” and “a fantastic event in our nation’s capital to celebrate freedom of religion for all people of faith.” She said Americans would gather “to rededicate this country as ‘one nation under God.’”
Critics challenged that framing. Andrew Koppelman, a Northwestern University law professor, told CNN the event was probably constitutionally protected but “contrary to the fundamental purposes of the Constitution,” saying, “This kind of divisive embrace of a particular religion and trying to associate the incumbent administration with that religion is bad for religion, bad for government and bad for America.” Douglas Laycock, a University of Texas law professor, went further, calling it “flagrantly unconstitutional” because it was “explicit government promotion of religion, and not just religion in general, but of a fairly specific version of one particular religion.”
Neither acknowledged the Christian overtones broadly apparent in the nation’s founding documents or in the individual writings of the central figures of that historical founding.
Other scholars and supporters argued public prayer has long been part of American civic life. Michael Mooreland, a Villanova law and religion professor, told CNN that prayers at congressional sessions and presidential inaugurations show an accepted intersection of faith and public life. “I think that it’s kind of overemphasizing that idea of separation to think that an event like this raises any constitutional problems,” Mooreland said.
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
